Die for and method of making spikes



H. GREER. D IY'B. PoR AND METHOD 0F MAKING SBIKBS.

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HOVARD CREER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DIIE FOR AND METHOD OF MAKING SPIKES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 308,252, dated November18,1884.

Application tiled December 3, 1833. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern,.-

Beit known that I, HOWARD Gnnna, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, vcounty of Cook, State of Illinois, have inventedor discovered a new and useful Improvement in Manufacture ofRailwaySpikes and Machinery therefor', and I do hereby declare thefollowing` to be afull, clear, concise, and-exact description thereof,reference being 1o had to the accompanying drawings, making a part ofthis specificatiomin which-like letters indicating like parts- Figure lis a front elevation of a machine for cutting and forming spikes, partof the housing being broken away to show the operating mechanism. Fig. 2is a front elevation of the cutting and forming dies in a closedposition, part of the lower die-being broken away to show the header.Fig.- 3 is a transverse vertical section on the line x w, Fig. l. Fig.l4 is a similar section on the line yy, Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a perspectiveview of the working face of the lower die. Fig. 6 is a perspective viewof the spike-blank. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the completed spike.

My invention relates to certain improvements in the manufacture ofspikes such as are employed in securing the rails of railway-tracks, inwhich I propose to use, by preference, Bessemer or open-hearth steel orsteel rails, or the cross ends thereof, though iron may be employed, ifso desired; but the granular' structure of the steel enables it to beemployed more advantageously, since in 3 5 the absence ot' fiber thedirect-ion of the line of cut is immaterial, and henceI will describe myinvention with particular relation to the use of steel therein.

In working the present invention I iirst produce by ordinary methods ofrolling a bar or blank approximately of the shape in crosssection of thespike to be made, a perspective View of such blank or bar beingrepresented at A. The central part, b, is about the thickness of oneside of the spike-shank when completed, and a rib, c, is made along oneside of one edge of the blank,and the opposite edge is beveled, asrepresented at e; but the metal is so rolled that in the part a, which5o goes to form the spike-head, enough metal is there secured to formthe ears s, as also the rearward lip, s', such as are usually found inspikeheads; and preferably this excess metal is so disposed, asrepresented at c, that it shall be wholly in line with the shank b, sothat when an endwise force is applied loy means of the header Htheentire force of the latter will be operative on such excess a, and willnot tend to any material extent to bend or distort the metal ot' the riba, from which the overlapping lip s2 of the spike is made. This blank isto be cut up by transverse parallel cuts into a series of blanks, andthe head part c is to be upset slightly, so that the eXtra or surplusmetal therein may be swaged outl to form the ears s and the back lip, s.To do this work I employ a pair of dies, B B', and a header, H. Theupper die, B, is secured to a plunger or die-carrier,

D, niountedin a housing, D', and is recipro- 7o cated by an eccentric,d, secured to a powershaft, d. This die has a form of face correspondingin shape to that of theupper side of the blank or to the headed sideofthe spike. The lower die, secured to the foundation or bed of themachine, has a face corresponding'in shape to that of the lower side ofthe blank A.

The header H is suitably arranged to reciprocate back and forth beneaththe work- 8o ing-face of the upper die and back of the lower die, and itreceives a reciprocating motion by means of a suitable connection withthe driving mechanism, such as shown, l where the header is attached tothe arm p of the rock-shaft p, the other arm, p2, ofthe rock-shaft beingattached to the connectingrod o of the eccentric di, secured to thepower-shaft d. The width of the working-face of the upper die is equalto the width of the spike-blank to be cut off, and beneath this face isa'vertieal wall, g, which acts` as a stop in the feeding of the blank.In this vertical wall, and immediately opposite the headed end of thespike-blank when fed therein, is a groove, g', in the proper positionand of suitable length and depth for the forming therein of one of theears s of the spike-head. On the inside of the lower die is a ledge, r,of proper length and shape and position, so that after a blank is cut bythe downward stroke of the upper die its shank and point will be IOOgripped between such ledge and the workingface of the upper die. In theinner wall of the lower die a slight recess, o", is made immediatelyopposite the groove g, and the end of the ledge r is also rounded off atthe same point. In this recess the other ear s is made, and over therounded corner of the ledge r the back lip, s', s made. rIhe formationof these ears and lip is effected by the forward stroke of the headerII, which is caused to advance as the upper die, B', comes into grippingposition, so that bythe action of the header on the part a of the blankthe excess of metal in such part awill be caused to iiow out laterallyinto the grooves g o" and into the cavity formed by the rou nded cornerof the ledge, and 'thereby form the ears s and the back lip, s.

In so far as relates to the form or forms of the blank herein shown anddescribed, the same is not claimed, but will form the subject matter of-an application to be filed in due time.

In application No. 113,386, filed December 3, 1883, I have described andclaimed a machine for forming lateral ears on a spike-head by means ofthe compressive action of a die moving at right angles to the body ofthe spike; but in the machine described and claimed herein the lateralears are swaged out by a. heading-die moving in a plane parallel withthe length of the spike.

I claim herein as my invention- 1. The die B, provided with the verticalwall g, having therein the groove g', opposite the head of the blank and011 one side thereof, in combination with the .die B', provided with therecess r opposite the head portion of the blank, but on the other sidethereof, and the header H, substantially as set forth.

2. The die B, provided with the vertical Wall g, having therein thegroove g opposite the head of the blank and on one side thereof, incombination with the die B', having the recess r opposite the head ofthe blank, but on the opposite side thereof, and having also the ledge rcut away opposite the groove r', and the header H, substantially as setforth.

3. The herein-described method of malinfacturing spikes, which consistsin forging or rolling a blank to approximately the size and x shape incross-section of the finished spike, but with an excessof metal, as ata', on the head-for1ning edge thereof, outside the plane of nish of thespikehead, cutting spike blanks from said blanks by a series of parallelcuts in dies adapted to cut and grasp the spikeblank, and then expandingor expressing laterally out such excess of metal while the blank is heldbetween thecuttingdies by a suitable header, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I havehereunto set my hand.

HOWARD GREEK.

Witnesses:

WVM. C. DAYTON, JACOB GREMLY, Jr.

